The proliferation of the automobile in densely populated urban areas has caused the owners of many automobiles to store their vehicles outside where they are exposed to the elements. During the winter months it is quite common for thick deposits of ice to form on the window areas of automobile including the windshield.
It is thus a part of the common experience of many automobile owners to be forced to remove ice from the windshields of their automobiles prior to operating same during the winter months.
While a variety of methods for removing ice are available icluding the use of hot water and applied chemicals to aid in the removal of ice, the most common method remains the use of a hand operated scraping tool, usually formed of plastic, to forceably scrape the ice from the windshield surface.
The most common form of such a scraping tool is an injection molded plastic tool having a form quite similar to a large putty knife. The user of such a tool must select the angle of attack at which the blade encounters the surface and, as will be known to those familiar with the use of such scrapers, bruised and skinned knuckles often result when the blade ceases to attack the point where the bottom of the ice contacts the windshield proper and the blade skids over the remaining ice surface.
The main drawback in the use of chemical solvents or warm water is that the solvents generally take a relatively long time in which to act on the ice and the warm water quickly becomes cold water and may lead to the formation of new deposits of ice.
The net result of prior art apparatus and methods for removing ice from the windshield of automobiles is to delay the time in which the operator may operate the automobile and to injure the hands of the operator.
It is therefore desirable to provide an improved scraping tool, particularly adapted for the scraping of ice from automobile windshields, which may be easily and inexpensively produced and which will avoid the problems encountered with prior art ice scraping devices.